Articles of Interest
Knowledge Nation
An interesting article written by Stephen Lunn January 10, 2008 appeared in The Australian newspaper titled “Half lack skills to live in 'knowledge economy”. The message to Australian business, implied by the article, was clear; we need to upgrade commercial training before the knowledge nation will become a reality.
While the article suggested a few contradictory conclusions – the emphasis on the capability level and the need to improve basic skills is right on the money. However, just what skills are important to ensure better productivity? Evidence suggests that in business more than literacy levels are essential. Increasingly importance is problem solving, which requires the ability to unlearn and relearn.
There is no evidence suggest that literacy for the under 25 has dropped over the last decade. In fact to the contrary; we see that the 3R’s performance level of school children has actually improved over the past 10 years. In any case have we now reached a point where the real issue is defining the type of literacy that is relevant to the digital decade? In 1970 – Alvin Toffler authored a ground breaking book “Future Shock”. In his view “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Stephen Lunn quoted from recent studies and surveys that show as many as half of all Australians lack the minimum reading, writing and problem-solving skills to cope with life in the modern world. But the article provided no salvation other than to
suggest it was up to government to fix the problem with tax payer funding.
The article quotes the ABS report, Adult Literacy and Life Skills, one of the latest surveys on life skills conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The ABS survey points to the statistic that 46 per cent of the population, or seven million people, would struggle to understand the meaning of newspaper and magazine articles or documentation such as maps and payslips. An alarming 53 per cent reached just the second of five levels in a practical numeracy test, while 70 per cent, the equivalent of 10.6million people, only managed to progress to level 2 in a series of problem-solving exercises.
"Level 3 is regarded by the survey developers as the minimum required for individuals to meet the complex demands of everyday life and work in the emerging knowledge-based economy," stated the ABS report.
The survey of 9000 people, which included a written life-skills test, was done in eight developed countries. Switzerland and Norway came out well ahead of Australia, while the US ranked much lower across all age ranges. Italy was the poorest-performing country of those participating. Yet we can see the uptake of the digital economy is far higher in US than in other countries.
Differences in gender were also apparent. Women were stronger at understanding written material than men, but males were better at numeracy and understanding documents such as maps. Almost twice as many men as women reached the top levels of the numeracy test.
Advocates of education and social commentators are divided in their opinions over what the evidence means and who is to blame for low levels of literacy. We can, however, all agree that to not improve digital applications literacy; will be a huge lost opportunity. The need to up skill during a period of tremendous skills shortage is imperative for both workers and employers.
The ACT was the best-performing state in terms of literacy and numeracy, followed by Western Australia and South Australia. Tasmania performed worst. While people whose first language was not English achieved lower literacy scores than the general population, comparisons with a 1996 survey show considerable improvement in literacy levels of this cohort.
Given these findings it is an economic imperative for business to have a say in the debate. Improved relevant practical commercial training is already a factor in determining the productivity, performance and competitiveness of organisations. Worthwhile practical training that relieves stress and frustration through quality communication will engender greater staff and customer satisfaction and higher retention rates. Finding new customers and new staff has become one of the highest input costs for all organisations.
Editorial contributed by: Clive Wallace Managing Director WallCann January 2008.
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IT Training & the Future of E-Commerce: - Why your employees need to be up to speed!
Competitive business is the realistic nature of industry, within Australian markets and on a global level. Irrespective of the nature of your corporate focus, the most important component of your business is your staff and the quality of their skills, knowledge and training. The future direction for corporate industry is within the online environment of E-commerce and to achieve success within this sector will be dependant on the skills set of your staff. You need assurance that your core staff have a foundational set of IT skills that are quantifiable against the requirements of E-commerce. To ascertain whether your core staff are up to speed with IT related skills, knowledge and implementation methods, ask yourself the following questions:-
- Are you confident and assured that your core staff have learnt and inherent IT skills to cope with the demands of E-commerce?
- Do any of your core staff currently express a lack of knowledge and training in business related IT skills?
- Have all your core staff received nationally accredited training in IT which is tailored to meet the unique needs of your business?
- What is the value to your business of IT & E-commerce accredited and supported core staff?
If you have answered NOT SURE to any of the above questions, you have identified a critical aspect of your business – that needs immediate attention! The WallCann Academy can provide the training mechanisms that will ensure that your business ventures into the IT & E-commerce environments will result in positive results for all stakeholders.
Editorial contributed by: Kyleigh Marshall.
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